Overview
In the mid-1930s the Mexican government expropriated millions of acres of land from hundreds of U.S. property owners as part of President Lazaro Cardenas's land redistribution program. Because no compensation was provided to the Americans a serious crisis, which John J. Dwyer terms ""the agrarian dispute,"" ensued between the two countries. Dwyer's nuanced analysis of this conflict at the local, regional, national, and international levels combines social, economic, political, and cultural history. He argues that the agrarian dispute inaugurated a new and improved era in bilateral relations because Mexican officials were able to negotiate a favorable settlement, and the United States, constrained economically and politically by the Great Depression, reacted to the crisis with unaccustomed restraint. Dwyer challenges prevailing arguments that Mexico's nationalization of the oil industry in 1938 was the first test of Franklin Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy by showing that the earlier conflict over land was the watershed event. Dwyer weaves together elite and subaltern history and highlights the intricate relationship between domestic and international affairs. Through detailed studies of land redistribution in Baja California and Sonora, he demonstrates that peasant agency influenced the local application of Cardenas's agrarian reform program, his regional state-building projects, and his relations with the United States. Dwyer draws on a broad array of official, popular, and corporate sources to illuminate the motives of those who contributed to the agrarian dispute, including landless fieldworkers, indigenous groups, small landowners, multinational corporations, labor leaders, state-level officials, federal policymakers, and diplomats. Taking all of them into account, Dwyer explores the circumstances that spurred agrarista mobilization, the rationale behind Cardenas's rural policies, the Roosevelt administration's reaction to the loss of American-owned land, and the diplomatic tactics employed by Mexican officials to resolve the international conflict.
Full Product Details
Author: John Dwyer
Publisher: Duke University Press
Imprint: Duke University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 2.50cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.585kg
ISBN: 9780822343097
ISBN 10: 0822343096
Pages: 277
Publication Date: 12 September 2008
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
The Agrarian Dispute is a tour de force. John J. Dwyer ties international relations and domestic politics in Mexico together in an exciting new way, demonstrating that the expropriation of United States-owned land by the Cardenas regime was of crucial importance for the relationship between the two countries, Mexico's overall economic development, and agrarian reform. Few scholars cover both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border as well as Dwyer does. -Ben Fallaw, author of Cardenas Compromised: The Failure of Reform in Postrevolutionary Yucatan The Agrarian Dispute will force scholars to reconsider U.S.-Mexican relations during the Cardenas years. John J. Dwyer shows how powerful domestic and international events were affected by the actions of 'subalterns' and how Mexico, a relatively weak power, deftly bested the United States with creative diplomatic tactics. He also makes a convincing case that the U.S. response to Mexico's oil expropriation in 1938 was largely determined by the earlier controversy over the land confiscations. -Timothy J. Henderson, author of The Worm in the Wheat: Rosalie Evans and Agrarian Struggle in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley of Mexico, 1906-1927
The Agrarian Dispute is a tour de force. John J. Dwyer ties international relations and domestic politics in Mexico together in an exciting new way, demonstrating that the expropriation of U.S.-owned land by the Cardenas regime was of crucial importance for the relationship between the two countries, Mexico's overall economic development, and agrarian reform. Few scholars cover both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border as well as Dwyer does. Ben Fallaw, author of Cardenas Compromised: The Failure of Reform in Postrevolutionary Yucatan The Agrarian Dispute will force scholars to reconsider U.S.-Mexican relations during the Cardenas years. John J. Dwyer shows how powerful domestic and international events were affected by the actions of 'subalterns' and how Mexico, a relatively weak power, deftly bested the United States with creative diplomatic tactics. He also makes a convincing case that the U.S. Response to Mexico's oil expropriation in 1938 was largely determined by the earlier controversy over the land confiscations. Timothy J. Henderson, author of The Worm in the Wheat: Rosalie Evans and Agrarian Struggle in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley of Mexico, 1906-1927 Dwyer's work, issued in 2008, has been referred to as cleverly written by Eric Van Young and a significant contribution by Christopher Boyer who says it shapes the narrative of Cardenas in ways that subsequent historians will need to take into account. In short, it has and will continue to be well received by some of the most influential scholars on the history of modern Mexico. But Dwyer's work is important for other reasons related to both the quality and content of his scholarship. As his introduction points out, his research happened in two countries, seven cities, and sixteen archives and libraries, and was funded by eleven grants, including a Fulbright Fellowship (pp. xii-xiii). In crude terms, it is the best history research money can buy... The Agrarian Dispute is a good example of how truly solid research can and will be funded. Students of Latin America toiling away on dissertations everywhere should look to Dwyer's scholarship for inspiration and (in the current economic climate) garner hope for what hard work, clear writing, and good research can lead to. In sum, researchers and students interested in the diplomatic interaction of Mexico and the United States will find the book extremely useful. - Jason Dormady, H-LatAm
The Agrarian Dispute is a tour de force. John J. Dwyer ties international relations and domestic politics in Mexico together in an exciting new way, demonstrating that the expropriation of U.S.-owned land by the Cardenas regime was of crucial importance for the relationship between the two countries, Mexico's overall economic development, and agrarian reform. Few scholars cover both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border as well as Dwyer does. Ben Fallaw, author of Cardenas Compromised: The Failure of Reform in Postrevolutionary Yucatan The Agrarian Dispute will force scholars to reconsider U.S.-Mexican relations during the Cardenas years. John J. Dwyer shows how powerful domestic and international events were affected by the actions of 'subalterns' and how Mexico, a relatively weak power, deftly bested the United States with creative diplomatic tactics. He also makes a convincing case that the U.S. Response to Mexico's oil expropriation in 1938 was largely determined by the earlier controversy over the land confiscations. Timothy J. Henderson, author of The Worm in the Wheat: Rosalie Evans and Agrarian Struggle in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley of Mexico, 1906-1927
Author Information
John J. Dwyer is Associate Professor of History at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.
